Eagle in Atlanta writes of Boston College freshman Dennis Clifford, "Steve Donahue said that when he first saw Dennis Clifford, he thought to himself: 'he could be a really good Ivy League player.' When you are the coach at Cornell that's a great endorsement. When you are the coach at BC, that's the ultimate backhanded compliment."

In reference to Steve Donahue's class of 2006 at Cornell, the Duke Basketball Report writes that Donahue, "assembled a huge class that ended up dominating the Ivy League for two seasons. " Of course, the class of 2006 from Cornell won three consecutive Ivy League titles during their sophomore through senior years. They also appeared in five NCAA Tournament games.

WVBR posts an evaluation from the Red-White Game on Saturday. WVBR writes:

The Cornell Men's Basketball team tipped off in front of the public for the first time today with the annual intrasquad Red/White scrimmage. The result? A pretty enlightening game that showed just how much the Red will be relying on senior leaders Chris Wroblewski and Drew Ferry to carry the team this year. Together, the two led the White Team to a 76-41 thrashing of the Red Team. Scoring aside, let's take a look at this observer's top 5 reactions and thoughts following the game.

1. Style: Some things never seem to change for the Big Red and Courtney's teams certainly came out with a style that seems all too familiar - a run and gun offense that relies heavily on the outside shot and open jumper to keep the scoring going. Drew Ferry knocked down 5 three-pointers alone, pushing the White Team to an early lead and setting the pace for the day. In fact most of the players in today's matchup went up for the long-range bomb at some point during the scrimmage - including forwards Josh Figini and Manny Sahota. On defense, we're looking at a similar help-style man-to-man with some trapping in the corner as we've seen in years past. What we'll need to see is stepped up efforts on defense though to ensure that guarded players remain aggressively contained or covered so that they can't just dish off to the open man.

2. Inside Game: This was the most frustrating thing to watch in today's scrimmage, as the team missed layup after layup. On many more than one occasion, "big men" Josh Figini, Ned Tomic, and Dwight Tarwater closed in on the basket but failed to finish. The Red can't rely exclusively on the three and it'll take some practice to get the guys going up strong moving forward.

3. Chemistry: There's some element of teamwork readily apparent - the passing game has worked fairly well and Chris Wroblewski got several very good looks in to Josh Figini and Ned Tomic, but overall, the chemistry we've grown accustomed to in years past isn't quite there. An important consideration is that Wroblewski is the only veteran senior on the team who has seen four years of basketball at Cornell. We don't see a senior class this time around who entered the program together.

4. Fresh Faces: Some of the freshman do show some promise and hope for strong efforts early on. Ned Tomic stepped up on the inside, and Galal Cancer tried to "join the club" by working hard for his first three-point shot (missed, unfortunately). Tomic was the most notable today, however, and his ability to work from mid-range and in the paint showed through. Coming off his injury last year, Dominic Scelfo looked pretty good in his return and also managed to work things from the outside. At some point though, Coach Courtney will have to figure out how to leverage the height in his new freshman class.

5. Injury City: One big concern with today's scrimmage and how the season will run manifested itself today with several players sitting out and not participating on the teams - Freshman forwards Dave LaMore and Shonn Miller, Junior forward Erric Peck, and Senior guards Max Groebe and Anthony Gatlin were not involved in today's scrimmage. Peck and Groebe were key players on the team last year and without them the Red may struggle to pull together a really effective, aggressive lineup. The question is, can everyone be ready in time for the season?

The Big Red tip off for the regular season against St. Bonaventure on Friday, November 11 at 7pm, and open at home for the first time this year on Monday, November 14 at 7pm.

Saturday October 22, 201111:11Test3:58Good afternoon to the two or three people crazy enough to follow a live blog of Cornell's Red-White Scrimmage. Love having you here.3:58First, the important stuff. Sitting out today for various injury-related reasons: Errick Peck, Shonn Miller, Peter McMillan, Dave LaMore, Anthony Gatlin and Max Groebe. Mark Coury's on the bench, but that doesn't count.3:59Red team: Scelfo, D. Cherry, Asafo-Adjei, Gray, Matthews, Giddens, Chemerinski, Sahota.White team: Ferry, Wroblewski, Cancer, J. Cherry, Figini, Tarwater, Tomic.4:00Certainly not doing a play by play of this thing, just observations. But if you have a question or a theme you'd like to discuss, submit it. We can free-wheel it a bit.4:02Comment From TouchdownWhat is the mood of the team in general? Your last writeup sounded pessimistic.4:02Comment From Guestwhat's coury up to these days?4:03Team looks like it's having fun. They certainly think they'll be better then all the outsiders think.4:03I'll try and find out with Coury. Guess here is he's putting that 4.3 GPA to good use.4:06Comment From TouchdownSo, what are your views on the "Harvard will go 14-0 and be an 11 seed" theme that's floating around?4:08I think the league's too tough for a 14-0 this year. 13-1ish. 11-12 seed possible depending on non-conference success.4:08Interesting that today we'll see Wroblewski/Ferry/Cancer on the White Team. Down the line, that could be the starting backcourt.4:12Comment From davidpeckthanks for doing this. Couldn't make it to Newman today4:13No problem. Figure it's worth it even for 2-3. For those wondering Cornell lost to Brown in football 35-24. Soccer team scoreless with about 15 left in the first half over at Berman Field.4:13Mike Blaine is coaching Red Team. Marlon Sears coaching White Team. Advantage?4:16Starters being introduced. Probably just a minute or two away from the tip.4:18Looks like two 15:00 halves. New uniforms for CU by the way. Sleek. Players say they're much lighter, FWIW.4:19Figini-Wrobo-Ferry-Tarwater-Cancer vs. Sahota-Eitan-MAA-Matthews-Gray to start4:22Ferry hits a pair of 3's to get things going.4:24Two good penetrations by Galal Cancer, using his left hand. Figini loses the handle on the first dump, but Ferry knocks down another three on the second.4:26Cancer with a terrific wrap-around pass in traffic to Tarwater for two. W 11, R 3.4:28First time we get to see Dominic Scelfo. The soph. guard hits on his first shot attempt, a top-of-the-key 3.4:32White now leads 22-10. Ferry in a groove with 12 points.4:33Scelfo's shot is very smooth.4:34Comment From TouchdownAnyone in the frontcourt playing well?4:35Tomic had two good finishes inside where he used his bulk to seal off a defender. Both teams missing lots of chippies. Giddens missed a 6 footer and a dunk, Eitan has a block. Figini missed a 3. Game's moving at a quick pace.4:38Cancer's a stud.4:39I realize that I write that 12 minutes and 38 seconds into the Red-White Scrimmage, but there it is. Sometimes it's obvious.4:42Wroblewski drives, draws and feeds Tarwater for a 10-foot baseline jumper and the foul. FT is good. White leads 40-21 at the half.4:47Comment From Guestanyone standing out and looking like they put on some muscle lbs this offseason?4:48Eitan and Josh are both noticeably bigger. But they're still probably in that 220 range, where already Tomic and LaMore are 240ish4:49Comment From TouchdownAre we to assume that Dwight is looking like one of the better players?4:49Comment From davidpeckhappened to see Figini not long ago. He'd certainly put on some muscle. cornellbidred.com still lists him at 205 though. Needs an update4:50Coaches are very high on Tarwater. He's physical, his shot got better and actually saw him throw down a two-handed tip dunk in practice the other day, in traffic. Impressive.4:51Comment From davidpeckglad Dwight & Dominic are healthy but we'll miss those stylish bow ties on the sidelines4:51Just saw two sides of Giddens on successive defensive possessions. Came from behind to block Tomic on a putback attempt. Great length. Next series, Tomic outmuscled Giddens for an o-board and putback.4:52White leads 48-30, 11:59 left.4:54Also should add that Gatlin added muscle too.4:57Comment From Steven GlansbergSounds like a blowout- how is the crowd? Do you have any overall stats like pts rebounds etc?4:57Comment From TouchdownCan we count on Gatlin or Groebe to be regulars this season though? They're always sick.4:57Comment From Steven GlansbergTomic didnt get a lot of hype in the preseason and recruiting, can you see him get some minutes?4:59SG ... No stats. It's a rout. Ferry/Cancer/Wroblewski too much. ... Tomic, may be in spots. A fast paced game may not suit him, and I need to see more of him defensively. But he uses his body well inside.Touchdown ... Yes. Gonna be a few weeks.5:01Wroblewski looks so much more comfortable playing occasionally off ball. Catch-and-shoot 3 puts White's lead at 61-33.5:02Comment From TouchdownIs ANYbody on the Red team looking decent?5:10Scelfo has been solid. MAA steady in distribution and defense.5:11Battery ran out on the computer ... got it charging again. 71-39 White, 1:22 left.5:13Comment From Steven GlansbergHow does Eitan look in the post?5:14tough to tell, apart from he's active and he hustles. It's been such a guard oriented game, almost impossible to judge him on back to the basket stuff. Mostly high ball screens and rolls, lots of 3's.5:14Final score White 76-41. Thanks for following everybody ... have a great rest of the weekend.

Cornell will have at least three games televised during the 2011-2012 season including, at Maryland (ESPN3), at Illinois (ESPN3) and at Penn State (Big Ten Network). Time Warner Cable, VerizonFios1, and Comcast Sports are among other networks that may also pick up Cornell games against Ivy League opponents such as Columbia, Princeton and Penn.

Throughout the year we provide periodic updates on Cornell's alumni playing professionally. Below, some updates:

-Jeff Aubry ('99) (Halcones Rojos, LNBP Mexico premier league/Arecibo Capitanes, BSN Puerto Rico premier league)-As of October 24, Aubry is averaging 4.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Halcones is 13-2 (1st place out of 14 teams in the Mexican LNBP). Aubry, a 6'11" center, splits his time in both the Mexican and Puerto Rican professional leagues. He is also a member of Puerto Rico's national team joining several NBA stars and is expected to compete with the team in 2012 Olympic qualifying. A well traveled pro player, Aubry spent several seasons in the NBA D League in the early part of his career with the Fayetteville Patriots and Florida Flame and earned honorable mention all D-League in 2002. During his more than a decade of pro experience, Aubry has also played professionally in the ABA (Miami Tropics) and abroad in Puerto Rico (Arecibo, Leones de Ponce, and Santurce, BSN Puerto Rico), Spain (Tarragona, LEB Gold Spain 2nd Division), Mexico (Halcones Rojos and Chihuahua Dorados, LNBP Mexico premier league), Poland (Slask Wroclaw, PLK Poland premier league), Argentina (Libertad Sunchales, Liga A Argentina), Uruguay (Hebraica, LUB Uruguay )and Peru (Alas Peruanas, Peru).

-Cody Toppert ('05) (Ourense, LEB Silver Spain 3rd Division)-As of October 24, Toppert is averaging 6.7 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. On October 23, Toppert finished with 2 points and 3 rebouds as Ourense fell 81-75 to Gandia. Ourense is 2-1 (2nd place out of 13 teams in the Spanish LEB Silver). Like Aubry, Toppert, a 6'4" guard, is a veteran of the NBA D League, a former Albuquerque Thunderbird. During his pro career, Toppert has also played in England (Plymouth Raiders, British Basketball League), Italy (Forli, LegaDue Italy 2nd division), the CBA (Great Falls Explorers), as well as in Portugal (Barriernese, LCB Portugal premier league), Germany (Goettingen, BBK Bundesliga Germany premier league) and New Zealand (Taranaki Mountain Airs, NBL New Zealand premier league).

-Jason Hartford ('08) (Unsigned)-As of October 24, Hartford is unsigned for the 2011-2012 season. He was cut during the week of October 17 by Cader Rocha, LUB Uruguay premier league and is now a free agent. He was averaging 12.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, second on the team in both categories. The 6'9" Hartford previously played professionally in Portugal (Ginasio, LCB Portugal premier league), Finland (Huima, Korisliiga Finland premier league) and Mozambique (Maxaquene, D1 Mozambique premier league).

-Louis Dale ('10) (Goettingen, BBK Bundesliga Germany premier league)-As of October 24, Dale is averaging 13.8 points, 2.6 assists, and 2.2 rebounds per game. On October 22, Goettingen fell to Trier 71-60 despite Dale's 13 points and 5 rebounds. Goettingen is 1-4 on season (16th place out of 18 teams in the German BBK). Dale is in his second professional season, both seasons in Germany with Goettingen.

-Ryan Wittman ('10) (Unsigned)-As of October 24, Wittman is unsigned for the 2011-2012 season. He played the 2010-2011 season in Italy (Forli, LegaDue Italy 2nd division) and in the United States (Fort Wayne Mad Ants, NBA D-League).

-Jeff Foote ('10) (Unsigned)-As of October 24, Foote is unsigned for the 2011-2012 season. He played the 2010-2011 season in Spain (Melilla, LEB Gold Spain 2nd division) while on loan from Euro League powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel.

-Adam Wire ('11) (Vaerlose, Denmark BBK premier league)-As of October 24, Wire is averaging 10.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. On October 22, in a 75-65 defeat to Svendborg, he finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Vaerlose is 2-5 (9th place out of 10 teams in the Danish BBK). The 2011-2012 season is his rookie year.

-Aaron Osgood ('11) (Vaerlose, Denmark BBK premier league)-As of October 24, Osgood is averaging 11.0 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. On October 22, in a 75-65 defeat to Svendborg, he finished with 11 points and 6 rebounds. Vaerlose is 2-5 (9th place out of 10 teams in the Danish BBK). The 2011-2012 season is his rookie year.

4 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I saw the R-W game. Ski,Ferry.Cancer did well as expected. Tarwater was very strong inside, blocked out, got rebounds, and made some short shots. His FT nothing but net. Need to get injuries healed to the other bigs.

I was really impressed with tarwater - complete game. If this is what we can expect from him, good things to come. A consistent Tarwater very important on boards.

So I suspect the white team are the projected starters early-on, and the red team 'the others'. Why split them this way - to see how they work together, to instill confidence - certainly didn't do anything for the confidence of the others.